BATTLE CREEK -- Aquinas College softball coach Crystal Laska can’t help it if she has felt fatigued while tending to her regular duties in the dugout at the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament.

She did just give birth to her third child.

The smiling, but weary, Laska didn’t miss a single pitch of the postseason thanks to the well-timed arrival of 6-pound, 11-ounce daughter Evelynn, who showed up at 5:40 a.m. Monday during a break from her mama’s demanding schedule. Laska just finished coaching the Saints in the WHAC regular-season finale Saturday afternoon, and her due date of Thursday coincided with the beginning of the conference tournament.

"I joked how I had to have her Sunday or Monday because we had a three-day window," the fourth-year coach said with a laugh. "Well, she listened. I’m here for the tournament, but I am moving just a little slower.

"If I were in the hospital (giving birth) and my players were here without me, it definitely would not have been good for my mental stability. The nurses would’ve gotten sick of me. My assistant coaches would’ve gotten sick of me sending them text messages. I needed to be here for all of my girls," she said.

Laska, 32, and her husband, Chris, 33, both 2001 Aquinas graduates, discussed Thursday morning whether mom should return to coaching or take some hard-earned time off to recuperate.

A few hours later, they showed up at the ballpark with the newborn along for the ride.

"She got enough rest to down here," said Chris Laska, a former standout center fielder at Aquinas on the baseball team. "She just wanted to be here with her girls. All the players call her mom, too."

Courtesy PhotoAquinas softball coach Crystal Laska spent most of the season pregnant with her third child.

The latest addition to the family brought the Saints some luck.

Aquinas won both of its games Thursday with Evelynn in attendance, but suffered a 6-1 loss against Indiana Tech on Friday afternoon in an elimination game. The baby stayed home for the second day of the tournament.

"He was all concerned about me coming here Thursday," Crystal Laska said of Aquinas athletics director Terry Bocian. "He told me, ‘Shouldn’t you be home with your family?’ But I told him I’ve got 19 other girls that need me. So, of course, he shows up yesterday to baby-sit me. I’m just a little tired."

She did make one small concession while resuming her coaching duties.

Instead of standing in the first-base coaching box while the Saints are batting, which is her normal spot, Crystal Laska pulled up a chair next to the dugout and directed her team from that unusual location.

"I don’t enjoy coaching from a chair, but I can be just as loud from a chair," she insisted.

The only time she spent apart from her team during the pregnancy was two practices this week and three total.

"It’s almost like she planned it," Aquinas assistant coach Brad Koch said of the baby’s arrival.

Crystal Laska said the support from her husband, coaching staff and her players helped make the past nine months much easier for her to handle being pregnant and still be able to go about business as usual on the field.

"My players mothered me a lot," she said.

She had no problems with the pregnancy -- although there were a few false alarms.

"I was coaching first base a couple of times during the season and I started to have contractions," Crystal Laska recalled. "I had to come off the field and sit down. Once the contractions passed, I’d go back out there. If it would’ve been the first baby, I might’ve been frazzled, but this is my third one."

The Laskas also have a 7-year-old daughter, Cierra, and 4-year-old son, Luke.

"I had Cierra in January and she was with me at practice when she two 2 weeks old. I had Luke in August and he was with me at tryouts when he was a week old -- in a stroller, behind a fence, as happy as could be," Crystal Laska said. "The kids are around softball all the time. It’s just a way of life at our house."

Evelynn didn’t fuss much Thursday in her introduction to the sport.

"She was a real trooper. She was here for eight hours and three games, but I think she was happy when she got home," mom explained. "That tells me she’s ready for a lifetime of this. She’s got good, long fingers, so I’m just assuming she’ll be able to throw a curveball when she’s 4 or 5 years old."

And there’s no shortage of potential babysitters.

"She’s lucky," Aquinas assistant coach Jacki Plough said. "She’s got 19 babysitters on the team who’ll help take care of her kids. The girls on the team are all fighting to see who gets to baby-sit for her first."